Shipping appliance



1921, 3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Patented July 19,

F.9.sMALL- SHIPPING APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. l0. |920.

tir

F. P. SMALL.

SHIPPING APPUANCE.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 1o. 1920.

Patented July 19 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

l M ULI u F.. P. SMALL.

SHIPPING APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. Io. 1920.

1,385,156. rammed July 19,1921.v

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

` FiCIEL WITNESS F UNITED y STATES PATENT oFFlcE. i

` u FREDERICK PEncIvAL SMALL, or arDoEEIELn, NEW JERSEY. i

SHIPPING i APPLIANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 19, 1921.

Application led November 10, 1920. Serial No. 423,120.

To all whom it may concer/n: i

Be it known that I, FREDERICK PERcIvAL SMALL, a citizen of theUnitedStates residy ing at Ridgefield, in the county of ergen and Stateof New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inShippingA pliances, of which the following is a speci cation.

Thisinvention relates to shipping appli-` ances and has particularreference to a com bined` waybill accounting and receipt appli-` ance,adapted especially for use by the express companiesor other analogouscarriers ortransfer agents, including industrial and mercantiletransactions.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide an easy` and rapidmeans of despatch ing `the business of a carrier such as an expresscompanybyfproviding a device comprising a number of sections or couponsupon all of which the main parts of the inscription and information maybe written simultaneously preparatory to the application of a portion othe device to the packa e to be carried therewith and thereby.

ore specifically one of the main objects of this improvement,distinguishing it from `operation of inscription,either by hand ordevices heretofore propxosed, is the provision of a blank of suc anature that the shipper may fill out the blank by a simple a typewritingmachine, leaving for the expressman to sign his name for the company,tear oii' one portion of the device for the shippers receipt, then tearoil' the abstract advice and duplicate receipt to be sent or deliveredto his oiiice, and then attach the remaining portions of the `device tothe package preferably by the use of paste, the remainin portionsincluding a waybill,` a delivery s eet, and a waybill label:

In carrying out this invention 1n a form that has proved to be mosthighly adapted for use by a lar e carrier com any, reference is to be hato the following detailed description when read in connection with theaccompanying drawings, whereon simi lar reference characters areemplofyed to indicate corresponding parts, and o which,

Figure `1 is a plan view of a complete appliance as it may appear afterbeing 1nscribed by the shipper and receipted for by the `agent for thecompany. .i

Fig. 2 is a plan view o the other side of the same.

Fig. 3 is a diagram indicating the manner of folding the device in it.

0 igt 4:` 1s a fragmentary diagrammatic view indicating that portion ofthe device that is applied to the package.

Fig. 5 is a diagram indicating the operation of separating the waybilland the delivery sheetfromthose portions.` that remain aillxed to thepackage, this separation` being effected by the agentat the office ofthe destination preliminary to the delivery of the package andthe takingof the consignees receipt therefor on the delivery sheet.

I illustrate my improvement as an appliy ance tor a prepaid transactionand shipment, but it is to be understood that it is adapted for use inconnection with C. O. D. shipments or the like, with but slight`modification. y i

As best shown in Figs. l and 2 the appliancecomprises a single sheet ofpaper or the like, substantially of a rectangular form, and comprisingseven main sections orcou-A` pons identified by the letters A to Gincluf preparatory to inscribsive, all separable from one another,either by slits or weakened lines, usually the latter. These coupons orsections are all of equal width but are not all of the same lengthvertically. The length of coupon A is equal to the full height or widthof the sheet from which I.the a pliance is formed.` The length of couons `and E ismaterially less than one ha f the `width of the sheet. Thelength of coupons C, F, and Gr likewise is less than one half of thefull width of the sheet but is greater than the length of coupons VB andE. are stubs B and E respectively, but `the stub B is notched out up tothe lower edge of coupon B. l 3 i' I will now describe `the compositionof each of the several coupons and so indicate its relationship to otherparts of the appli ance.` In the form indicated coupon A is intended asthe shippers receipt. The upper half `of this coupon indicates itsnature` and bears printed terms and conditions. `The lower half ofthecoupon is ruled to provide spaces or blocks for the shipper or the agentfor the shipper to inscribe information pertaining to the individualshipment, such as date, place of destination, name and address of consice, description of the shipment, weight, c arges, etc., and also placesto be individually signed by the shipper and by the agent for thecompany., `It will be At the foot of coupons B and E i noted that all ofthe coupons are so printed asto'bear the same identification, such asthey name of the place ofshifpment and individual numbers so that in theevent 4of any part of the appliance becoming lost or mutilatedv aduplicate can be produced by reference to the identification numbersprinted thereon. Coupon A is carbonspotted on its back opposite thoseportions upon which the shipper-makes his inscriptions, buta cleanspotis observed at 10 where it comes adjacent to the. place for theconsignees signature when folded; y A

Coupon B is a` delivery sheet andhas a blank space at ll-popposite themark X for the consignees signature at the time" of delivery of theshipment as well asia space at -12'for the signature'of the deliv-eryman.

By reason ofthe' carbon spotting at 13 on the back of coupon A a carbonimpression Y is made on coupon coincidentally with theoriginal'inscription on the face of coupon A.

Coupon C is formedat the upper right hand cornerof the rectangular sheetand is slitted free-from coupon G at its left, but is hinged to folddownward toward thev bottom lof the sheet, thus overlzpping nearly allof coupon D, all of coupon 4 and a half of the stub E when thevappliance is vready to be inscribed. The manner of folding the sheet issuggestediin Fig. 3 wherein the right hand end comprising coupons C andvD is first lifted andffoldedto the left around the line a andV then thecoupon C is liftedc and folded downward around'the horizontal line Z) tothe Y sition, Yare all superimposed and receive the same descriptionthat is Aoriginally written upon the ,face of coupon A. A sheet of car-.bon paper inserted between coupons B and C atthe time of inscriptionconveys the impression from couponBto coupon C, while the carbon spot 14on the back of coupon D produces the duplication of the inscription oncoupon E. v Y Y After the appliance is folded and inscribed as abovedescribed, and then signed by the shipper and the agent for the com.

pany 'while Veither, still folded or subsequently thereto, the f agentfor the company detaches coupon A along the weakened line l d 'andleaves it with the shipper. The agent nentwdetaches coupons C and. Dfrom the main central portionof the sheet, along the line a. Coupon C isthe abstract advice and coupon D 1s the oiiice copy or duplicatercceipt. These coupons go to the ollice of the Vcompany'for the usualpurposes. The agent for the shipper then with the coupons F and B lyingiat upon the parts G and E rcspectively, the weakened lines f and gcoinciding'with each other, will lift the lower portion and swing thesame upward and fold it downward flat upon the top of coupon F at whichtime the stubs E and B will extend beyond the upper edge of coupons Fand G, and the then under surface of stub E will be exposed through thenotch at the stub B. See Fig. 4. Coupon Gr might be called an anchor forthe parts carried therewith, and it is provided with holes l5. Theoperator then applies paste to any convenient portion ofthe packagepreferably adjacent to the address of the consignee that is presumed tohave been applied thereto by the shipper. The operator then applies thedevice in the folded form just described upon the moist pastepressingthe saine downwardly firmly nrst along its lower edge and smoothing itout to exclude air from between the coupons and so causing the coupon Gto be aiiixed directly to the package, coupon F to be affixed theretothrough the holes l5, and the stubs B and E just above the upper edge olcouponsF and G. Thus th i appliance will be carri-ed with and by thepackage to its destination, the four coupons E, l, F` and (l, being allretained united along the folded edge at and g. Also the coupons E andli are retained together along the line c. Therefore, there are freeedges only along the right side and thus the appliance is carried safelyby the package.

lli/Then the destination is reached and the package is to be delivered,the delivery agent inserts his pencil along the bol tom of thefdevicebetween coupons B and F thus severing all of the Coupons along the linesf andy. -He then lifts coupons E and B and folds them upward as in Fig.5 and bending them downward around the lines It and i between thecoupons B and Fi and their respective stubs B and E', thus leaving theparts F, G, B, and E', remaining fixed to the pacha As above suggestedcoupons B is the de livery sheet upon which is received the ronsigneessignature at the space 1l. Counon 'E is a waybill. Both of these partscarry complete description and full information. rlhe face of coupon Ethat is exposed in transportation is provided with a lseries of blankspaces 16 to receive railroad or jui|ction stamps when being transferredfrom one carrier to another, and the saine coupon is provided withspaces 17 for special instructions according to the nature of theshipment.

Coupon F is a waybill label and is provided with blank spaces at 16 forthe stamping of the routes in ease the waybll, coupon E, should becomemutilated.

It will thus be seen that my appliance comprises a rectan lar sheetfoldable endwise into four su stantially equal panels, the irst panelconsisting of a shippers receipt, while each of the remaining panelscomprises two separable coupons, and the whole sheet being so foldableas to comprise three plies at one end and five plies at the other endwhen folded, the live plies being l arranged to receive inscription ordescriptive matter thereon at the same time.

I claim:

l. The herein described shipping appliance composed of a single rectanular sheet, one end portion of which is folda le endwise directly uponthe next adjacent portion and a part of the ortion thus folded beingfoldable in a di erent direction upon the remaining part of the endportion, the part last mentioned being slitted free from the portion ofthe sheet upon which it is first folded whereby the folding in the otherdirection is readily possible.

2. The herein described shipping appliance composed of a substantiallyrectangular sheet foldable endwise into four sub-- stantially equalpanels bearing appropriate imprints constituting the first panel, ashippers receipt, the second panel a Way bill label and a deliverysheet, the. third panel an anchoring means for securing the device to apackage and a waybill, and the fourth panel an abstract advice and aduplicate receipt, the sheet being so formed as to be readily foldedwith three plies at one end and five plies at the other end whereby aninscription written upon the first ply may be impressed at the same timeon each of the four plies beneath it.

FREDERICK PERCIVAL SMALL.

